


Show Me

by infectedscrew



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics)
Genre: M/M, Mild Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-07
Updated: 2016-05-07
Packaged: 2018-06-06 21:10:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6770011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/infectedscrew/pseuds/infectedscrew
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Roy ached to see all the changes the Bat wrought in Dick.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Show Me

Roy could tell something was off the moment he laid eyes on Dick. They were both called to Titan Tower to pick up their respective teenage companions. It was an easy visit, no emergency to speak of and yet Dick had this air about him as if the entire world as going to crumble around them and only he could stop it.

There was no pinpointing the exact thing that was off. The cowl looked too big and too small at the same time, harsh lines digging into the face Roy had grown up seeing nearly every weekend of his teenage life. The cape seemed determined to drag Dick right down into Hell if it could. All the sleek lines of Nightwing had been replaced by the oppressive black of Batman and all of it added together to consume Dick.

At least, Roy thought so. Looking around at all the other Titans, both old and new, he seemed to be the only one who thought so. Well, he and Red Robin. His eyes landed on the young man, Tim, who had changed from the gawky tween he’d met a handful of times when he’d picked up Connor into a harsh force that rivalled Dick’s changes.

“Psst,” Roy hissed out of the side of his mouth.

Just a couple feet away from him, Tim barely reacts. For a moment Roy isn’t even sure that he heard but then he sees the minute shift of focus, from the group of Titans to Roy himself. It’s a little unnerving and a lot like Bruce. He can see the same shift in Dick out of the corner of his eye as the man answers some unheard message on his comm. unit.

“What’s up with Dickie?” He asked.

Now Tim really did face him, expression unreadable even with the cowl down. He eyed Roy up and down but didn’t comment on whatever he found.

“Can’t say,” Tim said finally. “I’ll go get Mia for you.”

Without another word, Tim turned on his heel and swept off the roof. His back was stiff and straight, giving Roy no details as to what might have happened to the pack of Gotham heroes; although it did give him a pretty good idea.

Behind him a sharp laugh rang over the chattering crowd. It was Dick’s laugh but it wasn’t anything like Roy remembered. It made him queasy just hearing it. He turned around to look over the group again, catching Dick’s smile that was all glass edges and none of the warmth that Roy was used to. His chest ached at the sight of the friend he’d grown up with act so fundamentally different.

Clearly the changing of the guard—the changing of Batman—had affected them all deeply.

Roy resolved to drag Dick back out of the shadows. There was no way he was going to lose him to the Bat-mantle, not again. He’d drag him out by his fucking teeth if he had to.

The chance to help Dick didn’t come for another two months and even then it didn’t really feel like a good chance.

A rash of thefts inside of McQueen Industries had been traced back to Gotham. Some no-name thug had decided to carve a name for themselves in the black market weapons trade. By snagging a cache of McQueen’s latest developed weapon, they thought they could sell to the highest bidder. But everyone and their mother knew that a weapons dealer in Gotham was more likely to stab you in the back and sell your organs than make an honest deal with you.

Still Roy couldn’t wait for the thief to show up dead in Gotham Harbor. He had to do the right thing and find the guy, retrieve the weapons and hopefully convince the Gotham DA to have the criminal sent back to Seattle for trial instead of potentially end up in the Revolving Door of Arkham. For all those reasons, he found himself huddled on top of a crumbling apartment roof in the middle of winter, staring at an abandoned looking construction site with only one night guard snoozing in a chair and a nervous looking fellow hovering near the back entrance.

Why anyone would agree to a weapons trade here was beyond Roy, it was incredibly open and easily accessible.

“Archers don’t normally come to Gotham.”

The voice made Roy freeze. It was all Bat and it brought back all those memories of when Batman had found Roy and thrown him out on his ear—but then the familiar amusement slinking just under the words caught up with him. It might have been a Bat but it was Dick too.

Roy turned his head to look at Dick over his shoulder, not moving from his perch. He gestured to the space around him as he answered, “some of the best look-out points in America.”

“You have the Space Needle,” Dick commented, stepping a little further out of the shadows.

Once more Roy was struck by the feeling of wrong. It was different from the Tower, in bright San Francisco. In dark, gloomy, Gotham, the wrongness wasn’t as obvious but it was still there. Dick still moved with the same grace he’d always had but it seemed tighter now. As if he wanted to move but a thousand heavy hands were forcing him to stay in place.

Briefly Roy wondered when the last time Dick had just flown was. When he’d just given in to the pull of the grapple line and let gravity to do the rest, instead of clinging to the training of the Bat. It must have been a long time and that, more than anything else, made Roy’s chest ache with a sadness he couldn’t identify.

“The rest of Seattle is pretty flat. Part of the reason the Needle is so interest,” Roy answered, carefully straightening up.

Dick didn’t answer, didn’t continue the playful banter they used to have.

Roy sighed, turning to face the Bat. He refused to admit that Dick was Batman. It had to be temporary. Someone else, someone who fit the dark, heavy mold would replace Dick soon and the carefree hero would be back.

Across the roof from him, he could see the subtle tilt as Dick looked at the construction site behind him. He gave a very slight nod, confirming something for either himself or whichever companion was chattering in his ear tonight. He didn’t give any clues as to what he found and it was clear from the lines of his mouth that he was going to.

“You know the rules, Arsenal. You have to tell me when you enter the city,” Batman said, all traces of Dick gone. “You have to leave.”

The tone made Roy flinch.

“Those are his rules, not yours,” Roy retorted before he could think about it and he instantly regretted it.

All the hard edges of Batman tightened, the shadows lengthening and curling protectively around the city’s savior as if to sooth the hurt.

“My rules,” Batman stated, firm and harsh.

Roy opened his mouth but Batman was already pulling back, making to leave. It was a trick Bruce had done whenever he found Roy in his city. It was his not-so-subtle way of telling Roy that he had better be on the highway home before the Sun came up otherwise there was going to be Hell to pay. It almost worked when Dick did it but Roy was determined to stay his ground.

“It’s my case,” he spit out. “I’m staying.”

“I’ll handle it,” Dick replied, still tugging his grapple out of his belt as if Roy wasn’t arguing with him.

Roy shook his head, taking a couple quick steps forward to box Dick in. Even if he was Batman now, he was still shorter than the archer. Only those famous ears brought him above Roy’s level. His height was something he was going to use to his advantage, if he had to. He really hoped he didn’t have to.

Dick paused but it was less out of shock and more out of annoyance, as if Roy was a small gnat that he had to take care of before he could enjoy the rest of his night.

“I’m staying,” Roy pressed.

Dick frowned at him. “We’ve got it covered.”

“You would never do this before,” Roy got out. “What’s so different now?”

“I have more responsibilities now,” Dick said slowly as if Roy wouldn’t understand his words.

Roy huffed, crossing his arms and glowering down at the roof top. He wanted to stamp his foot childishly.

“No, you’ve just got that stupid cowl on your head and you think that means that you can just throw everything else out the window.”

The low blow came out and Roy wasn’t about to stop it. He didn’t have to look up to know that Dick had visibly recoiled. He wanted, needed Dick to understand how much the changes bothered him. How much he wanted his Dick back, his Robin.

Dick swallowed, hand lowering to his side but still clenched tight around the grapple. “I didn’t through anything out of the window,” he said, voice tight.

“Yes, you did. You’ve never gotten on me about rules before. You’ve always let me finish my case. Who do you think you have to impress, Rob?” Roy demanded, stepping forward until Dick was forced backwards. “You look terrible and I hate it. I hate what you’ve become in this.”

The words were spilling out faster than Roy could catch them. Not that they were happening, he realized that he needed to say them. Case be damned, the criminal would be dead by tomorrow anyway.

Roy slammed his hands onto the wall behind Dick’s head, trapping him against the cold metal of the water tower shed.

“I haven’t become anything,” Dick retorted, some anger lacing his words. “I’m still me.”

“Not even a little bit,” Roy snapped. “You look like the entire world sits on your shoulders and no one else understands your darkness.”

The words are mocking and Roy knew that his face was twisted in a sneer but he didn’t care. He relished in how Dick twitched, mouth shifting into a frown.

“I’m Batman now,” he said, sounding unconvinced even to his own ears.

Roy shook his head again. “No, you’re a little kid playing Batman.”

Dick moved hard, shoving Roy away. His elbow connected with Roy’s ribs, making him cough as he stumbled back.

“You have no room to talk, Arsenal,” Dick spat, some of the old wildness of Nightwing, of Robin sinking into the lines of his muscles. “You’ve changed just as much as I have.”

“Because I had to,” Roy answered, rubbing what would certainly be a bruise tomorrow.

Dick waved his hands at himself then to the city around them. “You think I didn’t have to? That I just jumped into this as if it was everything that I wanted? That I suddenly wanted Gotham on my shoulders? That I wanted to push you all away?”

Silence dropped over them for a long moment. Roy could see that Dick’s shoulders were shaking but he couldn’t identify the emotion that caused it. A sweeping calm washed over him as he processed Dick’s words. He bit his lip, taking in a steadying breath through his nose. Releasing his lip, he let it back out in a soft sigh.

“You didn’t have to,” he whispered, watching as Dick stiffened. He lifted his hands, stepping close again. “You didn’t have to push us away.”

“Yes, I did,” Dick murmured, not moving away but not looking at Roy either. “You don’t understand what I’ve done to get here.”

Roy took it as a good sign and gently rested his hands on Dick’s shoulders. He tilted his head, attempting to catch his eye. He smiled lopsidedly when he did.

“You think I haven’t done some really stupid shit in my day? That I didn’t do some extra crazy things when Green Arrow disappeared that one time. I was a fucking mess and you saw it all. For which, I am super sorry and I probably owe you at least three cheeseburgers.“

Finally the expression on Dick’s face cracked into something good humored. It was still fragile, tense and too small for Roy’s liking but it was a step in the right direction.

“At least,” Dick muttered.

Roy’s smile widened when Dick caught his gaze. He moved one hand to Dick’s jaw, the tips of his fingers just barely pressing to the edge of Dick’s cowl.

“Let me see you,” he whispered voice tiny in the cold winter air.

Dick didn’t answer.

Roy pressed his luck and carefully pulled the cowl back, revealing the nervous, tired face of his oldest friend. He searched all over the exposed face for any other signs, anything else for the man he’d grown up with. They were all still there, in the soft sweep of his hair and the brightness of his eyes; lingering in the corners of his mouth that looked ready to smile but just couldn’t.

“Let me help you, the way you helped me.”

A smirk pulled at those lips that Roy couldn’t stop staring at. “Getting a bit vulgar, aren’t you?”

Roy laughed, the sound shocked out of him by the joke. He flicked Dick’s nose. “I didn’t mean that way,” he said. “But… if you’re up for it.”

Dick slapped his shoulder when Roy wiggled his eyebrows.

After a second, they both sobered. Roy brushed Dick’s hair back, amazed at how soft it felt despite being trapped in the heavy cowl—although that might just be his own sentimentality.

“Hey, Speedy,” Dick murmured, staring at Roy’s chest as if it was an art piece—to many an unwilling bar patron, he had certainly told them it was. “If I kiss you, it’ll still be real, right?”

Roy didn’t know what Dick was talking about. If the kiss would be real, if Batman would still be around and if Dick would still have to don the symbol every night. Or if Roy’s offer of help would still be there afterward. Good and bad things would still be around whether the kiss happened or not. So Roy answered as honestly as he could.

“Yeah, it all will,” he said.

Dick sighed softly and nodded.

Not giving Dick the chance to back out, Roy leaned down and pressed his lips to Dick’s. It was nothing erotic or sensual, it was all soft and sweet but full of promises for more than Roy thought he even had the power to give.

In a city that wasn’t his, kissing a man dressed as a hero he wasn’t supposed to be, the kiss was more than enough for both men.


End file.
